Percolator-package



Patented Ian. 3|, I899.

H. II. HUMPHBEY. PERGOLATOB PACKAGE.

(Application filed Aug. as, 1598.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES A 770i? EYS.

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NITED STATES PATENT 'FFICE.

HENRY M. HUMPI-IREY, OF PLAINFIELD, NEIV JERSEY.

PERCOLATOR-PACKAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 618,677, dated January 31, 1899. Application filed August 26, 1898. Serial No. 689,588. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY lVL'I-IUMPHREY, of Plaintield,in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Percolator-Package, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a package for pulverized or crushed coffee or other material or merchandise or a package for tea or a like article in which the substance is incased or inclosed in a slack-bag or a receptacle made of cheese-cloth, muslin, or other material, and to provide the package with a weight capable of retaining it in position in a pot of water or other liquid, hot or cold.

A- further object of the invention is to so construct the weight applied to the package.

that it may be employed to direct a package from a coin-operated machine and serve as a surface upon which directions may be placed.

Another object of the invention is to so connect the weight with the package that when the package is placed in a receptacle and subjected to the action Ofliquid the process of infusion, decoction, percolation, distillation, or maceration will be carried out to the fullest extent and in a most expeditious and thorough manner, the weight serving to assist the package in its downward course and serving also to constantly change the position of the package and maintain said package at all times in such position that the liquid will have free contact with all of its surface.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the bottom portion of a coffee-pot, illustrating the application of one form of the package thereto, the package being in the position it last assumes. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a package to which the weight is applied in a slightly-different manner from that shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is also a perspective view of I a package in which the weight is slightly different in form from the weights shown .in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the simple form of the device shown in Fig. 1 the weight 10 for the bag 11 consists of a plate which is usually of metal, but may be of any desired material, and the bag 11 is con structed ordinarily of cheese-cloth or of other coarse fabric that will admit of the ready passage of a fluid through it. The bag 11 is made of such dimensions that it will be slack upon the plate, and the said bag should be slackly filled.

In Fig. l the bag is shown as attached to oneend of the weight or plate 10, the attachment being preferably accomplished by bending up one edge of the plate over the bag to form a clamping-jaw 12. In Fig. 2 the weight 10 is also in the form of a plate; but the bag is attached to the plate at both of its ends, the said plate being provided with two upturned jaws 12 and 12 but when the bag is attached at both of its ends to the plate said bag is also to be slack after it is filled, so that at its central portion it may fall from or rise in direction of the plate or weight, as occasion may demand. Y

Under the construction shown in Fig. 3 the weight is in the form of a strip 13, which is carried around the bag 11 from one end to the other in the shape of a band, the space between the members of the band being very wide at one end and very narrow at the opposite end. Where the members of the band are close together, the members are made to clamp the top and bottom of the bag 11, and one member of the band is carried closely over the other to form a locking-jaw 14:, the wide space between the members of the'band permitting the material in the bag to swell to its natural extent. When the form of weight illustrated in Fig. 3 is employed, it may be readily detached from a bag that has been used and quickly applied to another or fresh bag.

When the simple form of device is employed, the device is placed in the pot with the weight uppermost; but as soon as the water is poured into the pot the package rises, the weight still remaining uppermost. As the contents of the bag swell, the bag, with the plate or weight attached to one of its ends,

first floats just below the surface of the liquid, then sinks slowly, the expansion of the bag causing the weight to be thrown over in direction of the bottom of the pot, and finally, as shown in Fig. 1, the weight practically rests upon the bottom of the pot, while the bag remains in more or less of an upright position. It is therefore evident that the package changes position frequently in its downward course.

when the form of package shown in Fig. 2 is employed, the weight 'or plate 10 is likewise placed uppermost in the pot, and the movements of the package in the liquid are substantially the same as heretofore described, except that when the package reaches the bottom of the pot the slackness of the bag is depended upon to permit the liquid to pass between it and the weight, even should the package assume a horizontal position. In fact, when the construction shown in Fig. 2 is employed the package approaches the bottom of the pot more or less edgewise-and has a tendency to rest upon the bottom of the pot in the same manner.

Under the form of the device illustrated in Fig. 3 it matters not whether the package be made to rest upon one face or upon the other.

The weights, in addition to holding the bags in proper positions in the water, likewise permit the bags to be readily delivered from a coin-operated machine, and it may be readily understood that the packages may be made sufficiently large to contain, for example, coffee enough for one cup only or for two or more cups or for a large pot, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. A package for tea, ooifee and the like, consisting of a bag of porous or loosely-Woven material, provided with a weight in the form of a plate or strip, bent up and over upon the bag to clamp the same, as set forth.

2. A package for tea, coffee and the like, consisting of a bag of porous or loosely-woven material provided with a Weight in the form of a fiat plate, to which one end only of the bag is secured, as specified.

3. As an improved article of manufacture, a package adapted to contain any desired amount of tea, coffee or a like material, the said package consisting of a slack-bag made of loosely-woven material, and a plate attached to said bag, which plate serves as a weight, for the purpose specified.

HENRY M. IIUMPI-IREY.

\Vitnesses:

.T. FRED. ACKER, JNo. M. BITTER. 

